CVE-2018-9276
An issue was discovered in PRTG Network Monitor before 18.2.39. An attacker who has access to the PRTG System Administrator web console with administrative privileges can exploit an OS command injection vulnerability (both on the server and on devices) by sending malformed parameters in sensor or notification management scenarios.
do firstApply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Can a WAF block it? No. The vulnerability requires the attacker to have administrative access to the web console and involves sending malformed parameters in sensor or notification management, which likely appear as normal administrative requests without distinct malicious patterns that a WAF could reliably detect.
Also consider: shlex/execve-style APIs
Based on an AI reading of the CVE description, and no vendor rule found yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.
Is CVE-2018-9276 being exploited?
Yes. CVE-2018-9276 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.
How severe is CVE-2018-9276?
CVE-2018-9276 is rated High with a CVSS score of 7.2. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2018-9276?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2018-9276. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2018-9276 affect?
CVE-2018-9276 affects paessler:prtg_network_monitor. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
public exploits
Public exploit code: 1 on Exploit-DB · 1 Metasploit module · 5 GitHub proofs of concept
- PRTG Network Monitor 18.2.38 - (Authenticated) Remote Code Execution · webapps · 11 Mar 2019
- exploit/windows/http/prtg_authenticated_rce · exploit · excellent
- wildkindcc/CVE-2018-9276 · 36 ★
- andyfeili/CVE-2018-9276 · 0 ★
- alvinsmith-eroad/CVE-2018-9276 · 0 ★
- AC8999/PRTG-Network-Monitor-18.2.38---Authenticated-Remote-Code-Execution-CVE-2018-9276 · 0 ★
Listed so you can judge urgency, not as a recommendation to run anything. GitHub “proofs of concept” are unvetted: some are fake or carry malware. Exploit-DB marks the entries its staff verified.
cisa ssvc
- exploitation
- active
- automatable
- no
- technical impact
- total
Assessed by CISA 4 Feb 2025 (SSVC 2.0.3).
timeline
- 2 Jul 2018Published
- 11 Mar 2019First public exploit or proof of concept · 251 days (about 8 months) later
- 4 Feb 2025Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild) · 2,157 days (about 6 years) later
- 4 Feb 2025CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active · 1 day later
- 25 Feb 2025CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies) · 20 days later
- 21 Oct 2025CVE record last updated · 239 days (about 8 months) later
- 2 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com · 377 days (about 1 year) later
- Exploitexploit-db.com /exploits/46527/
- Linkpacketstormsecurity.com /files/148334/PRTG-Command-Injection.html
- Linksecurityfocus.com /archive/1/542103/100/0/threaded
- Linkpacketstormsecurity.com /files/161183/PRTG-Network-Monitor-Remote-Code-Execution.html
- Linkcisa.gov /known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2018-9276
sources
- CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
- NVD: CVSS and CPE data
- CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
- CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
- FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
- Exploit-DB: published exploits
- Metasploit Framework: exploit and scanner modules
- PoC-in-GitHub: GitHub repositories that claim a proof of concept
- Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.